Long Beach Race Week - Lots of sailing before its settled

by Rich Roberts on 26 Jun 2010 Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week.

A recipe of madcap starts, confusing wind shifts and stirred-up rivalries was left to simmer overnight Friday as Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week moved to the next two days of the West Coast's largest keelboat regatta, organized by the Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Yacht Clubs.

Not much was settled as a wide variety of some 140 boats fought it out in 20 classes in the first two of seven races scheduled through Sunday. The biggest leads were four points by Gary Mozer's hometown Current Obsession in J/105s and Dick Velthoen's Rival from Ventura in PHRF 3, each with a pair of aces on the day.

The marquee class of 11 Farr 40s set the tone for tight competition with a deadlock at the top between two California YC boats that each scored first and second places: David Ross's defending champion Piranha and Jeff Janov's Dark Star, although Piranha claimed a shaky tiebreaker for winning the latest race.

It wasn't easy.

'It was an interesting Long Beach day,' Voss said, 'not to go right.'

That would violate the standard local strategy, but Voss credited the presence of world-class veteran Eric Doyle as tactician.

'Surrounding yourself with smart people makes you look better,' Voss said.

To which Doyle noted, 'The faster we go the smarter I look.'

At the start of the race they won, Doyle said, 'We got a left shift that nobody else saw.'

Another Farr 40 contender is too bizarre to believe. Gabriel del Valle of Mexico City is in fourth place sailing a boat, Wooly Bully, chartered by countryman Bernardo Minko with his daughter, mother-in-law and farther-in-law on board.

'We are always a family in everything we do,' del Valle said.

Moderate breeze of 6 to 11 knots spent the day in the tricky 'Catalina eddy' zone coming from the east of Santa Catalina Island 22 miles offshore, swinging 20 to 30 degrees left to right and back again.

Racing will resume at noon Saturday on three courses---one inside and two outside the harbor breakwater.

It's also the third and last stop on the Southern California Ullman Sails Inshore Championship Series, following the Ahmanson Cup at Newport Beach and Cal Race Week at Marina del Rey.

Ullman Sails is the title sponsor. The founder and president, Dave Ullman, will offer his usual speed talk for competitors at Long Beach YC Fri\day at 10 a.m., then jump onto Jeff Janov's Farr 40, Dark Star, which is one of the contenders in that 11-boat class of heavyweights.

Other sponsors and supporters are DISC Sports and Spine Center, Ayres Hotel Seal Beach, Gladstone's Restaurant, the Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine Bureau, Long Beach the Aquatic Capital of America, Macson Printing and Lithography, Mount Gay Rum and West Marine.

Class leaders
After 2 of 7 races

FAST 50 (11 boats)---Wasabi, Dale Williams, Newport Harbor YC, 5-1, 6 points.

FAST 40 (11)---Derivative, Mark Surber, Coronado YC, 2-1, 3.

FARR 40 (11)---Piranha, David Voss, California YC, 2-1, 3.

TP52 (3)---Rebel Yell, David O. Team, 2-1, 3.

IRC (5)---Flash (TP52), Mick Shlens/Mark Jones, King Harbor/Cabrillo Beach YCs, 1-2, 3.

PHRF 3 (5)—Rival, Dick Velthoen, Ventura YC, 1-1,2.

FARR 30 (5)---Wild Thing, Steve Brown/Wanda Tolar, Bahia Corinthian YC, 2-1, 3.

FLYING TIGER 10 (7)---Ruckus, Anacapa YC, 2-1, 3.

CATALINA 37 (7)---Rochester (N.Y.) YC, Robert Mendenhall, 3-1, 4.

OPEN 5.70 (15)---D.I.S.C., Peter Drasnin, California YC, 1-1, 2.

VIPER 640 (8)---Viral, Tim Carter, Alamitos Bay YC, 1-1, 2.

RANDOM LEG PHRF (6)---Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, Long Beach YC, 1.

BENETEAU 36.7 (7)---Greg Lynn, South Bay Yacht Racing Club, 1-1, 2.

J/105 (10)---Current Obsession, Gary Mozer, Long Beach YC, 1-1, 2.

J/109 (4)---Sugar, Steve Crooke, Long Beach YC, 2-1, 3.

J/24 (4)---Slippery When Wet, Pierson Jacquelin, California YC, 1-2, 3.

J/29 (5)---Coyote, David Randle, Anacapa YC, 2-1, 3.

J/80 (8)---Fired Up, Gary Kammis, California YC, 1-3, 4.

SCHOCK 35 (6)---Mako, David Michaelis, Alamitos Bay YC, 4-1, 5.

Results click here
Ullman Sails Inshore Championship click here